Edit:
I'm simply blown away with you goats. I was expecting a somber farewell in this thread but instead you've done the exact opposite; pulled off a rally at the bottom of the 9th. On a personal note, and this may seem sentimental, but you have given me a new hope for Voat at very dark time for me.
All I can say now is: Let's do this! I think your message is clear. We have a ton of work to do, a short window in which to do it, and I fully understand I can't do it alone. We will need all hands on deck if Voat is to have any chance at survival.
I will post the plans I have for Voat as well as a status update on your contributions by Monday.
P.S. Old goats, be nice to the new kids. ;)
Original Post
As I sit here about to write one of the most difficult announcements yet, I was just reminded that my account is one month shy of three years old. Nearly three years ago I came here from Reddit when the vote counts disappeared and I felt I could no longer trust what I saw. Nearly three years ago I met @Atko and started contributing code because I believed in him, his mission, and what he was doing. So much has happened during these last three years.
I know a lot of you are new, but Voat has been through a wild ride, and never at any point was it an easy one. My memories are bittersweet when it comes to Voat. I’ve sacrificed the best years of my life for Voat, I’ve lost my business partner whom I miss a lot, I’ve lost people in my life, I’ve given up golf which was my passion, and even with all this I still believe in Voat. I still see the dire need for Free Speech in this world, I fear a world without it, and I still will do anything I can to continue providing it.
But alas, I am powerless to keep Voat running without financial support. As of right now Voat has no solid commitments. Voat has always needed a financial partner whom had balls of steel and backing deep enough to give Voat the capabilities to run as an actual business (being able to hire staff and set itself apart from its competitors), not just a one man show. Potential investors have one or the other of these traits, but we have yet to find one with both. In this day and age, this is Voat’s unicorn.
In the past Voat has been lucky enough to be part of special programs designed for startup companies which gave us free licensing on various products and significantly reduced hosting costs. These programs have since expired and we are now paying full costs. Last month was our first non-discounted month on Azure and the usage was $6,600.90 USD. Donations, ads, and merchandise only put a dent in this and this is the primary reason why we have not launched another merchandise run. And begging for donations was always something we hated doing.
I’m writing this announcement to prepare this community, and the Voat family, for the possibility of a closure. I’m not certain on timing and I have too much invested in this place to give up just yet, so I cannot provide any timelines. In the meantime, I will soon be scaling back all Voat’s servers by at least 50%. I will also turn off some features that are resource intensive.
Voat needs funding. Without it, Voat will be no more.
Voat needs an Angel
Canary
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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9138620? ago
@PuttItOut
Ask for an infowars sponsorship, in exchange we get to see alex jones face everyday
on a fucking banner right there >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
CptMacaroni ago
Alex Jones is the face of American obesity and a mid life crises.
LOLZebra ago
I would love this.
brbpierogies ago
How I would love to see that face here!
novictim ago
I whole heartedly support that!
Rainy-Day-Dream ago
water filter merchants ftw
OhSnapYouGotServed ago
Can it be the pic of him riding a horse shirtless?
fr33europe ago
Infowars would never go along with that. We're too toxic for them.
9146413? ago
probably
9145761? ago
@puttitout Asking the Silicon Valley VC Peter Thiel for money is probably best. He's a hardcore libertarian who donates hugely to Trump, and he loves funding founders with libertarian ideals. This guy is a super billionaire and he's exactly what you're looking for, Putt.
guinness2 ago
I just sent Alex Jones a message through the infowars.com web-page, letting him know and I hope other users do the same.
Gnatsunami ago
I like the idea but I feel like the open use of words like nigger, and niggery, and nigger ass nigger, and niggerface, and comma nigger, and nigger juice, and niggery nig niggery nigger nig, and Jew nigger might forever keep even these types of people from supporting Voat. Fucking niggers. I could be wrong though. I've been know to nigger on occasion.
suramartian ago
I will no longer be interested in voat if censorship is enacted
Donbuster ago
and this............ is how we become reddit. We can't take support from a partisan outlet without starting down the same road of making the site more appealing to that outlet and its agenda. Voat's defining characteristic is its commitment to free speech. So we need to partner with an organization that exists to protect free speech.
9144526? ago
Why can't we just take the money and run away from them the moment they try to change things
99% sure they wouldn't try to change things in the beginning, only after a little while
suramartian ago
no such thing as an organization without an agenda
anyone willing to pay is buying the rights to voat's speech parameters
Donbuster ago
Exactly. The way to keep voat what it is, however, is to find one which will never back down on its commitment to free speech. I'm currently writing an email to ReportersWithoutBorders. I think our best bet is an organization who's founding goal is the furthering of free speech. Such an entity would not suppress our free speech, for the simple reason that our goals align.
The day Breitbart or InfoWars or Huffpo or any other such heavily agendad organization that would willingly tread on our free speech to push its agenda enters into any kind of formal arrangement with voat beyond the buying of adspace is the day I leave this site for good.
suramartian ago
Who funds reporterswithoutborders?
Donbuster ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders#Funding
Its a mix, but the fact of the matter is, their mission is to prevent infringement on free speech, both by funding and providing legal advice for outlets and journalists acting under oppressive regimes, and to ensure that legislation protecting freedom of expression is upheld where it exists. In the past it has willingly acted in ways that angered major funding sources, all in the name of ensuring accountability when it comes to free speech. Their largest form of donor funding, at around 17% comes from corporate, and the backers there run through most of the political spectrum. Are they perfect? No. Are they much bigger than most organizations of this type? yes. Will they infringe upon Voat's freedom of speech? Not likely. Hell, they give journalists in war zones Kevlar so that they can continue investigating; A little racially charged internet argument is nothing to them.
pangaea ago
I'd be ok with them purchasing advertising but I don't want to do anything to alienate the less political enclaves of Voat.
suramartian ago
You should be more worried about alienating the poltical enclaves which encompass the majority of the userbase
You can talk about non-political things on reddit
pangaea ago
The loli subs, fph, and non-political niche subs could have leftists. I'm a leftist from the loli community (loli is banned on reddit) :P
Ywis ago
We should be asking places.
9139145? ago
I don't have a twitter but suggest everyone who does ask inforwars or their sponsers.
markrod420 ago
if you think infowars won't try to manipulate the content like any other advertiser then you are just lying to yourself about who they are.
9141525? ago
I'd rather have InfoWars trying to manipulate this site to believe in more conspiracies than to have some normie trying to silence the conspiracy talk entirely.
markrod420 ago
a shill is a shill no matter the flavor.
HeavyBrain ago
I think we are all aware of this.
This conversation happened when the first big reddit refugee wave came, we all saw the servers crapped out, we all knew that better hardware thus more money is needed, we all knew that eventually sponsor will be needed that dont just give away money for us being so fucking nice.
Communities rise, get infected by sponsors, in this heavily capitalistic game ironically the wannabe commies thrive and kill said community.
The moment a sub gets shitcaned for wrongthink most will just turn their backs, but till this day I want to enjoy voat, the alternative would be to go back to pozzed shit like reddit and buzzfeed and nobody here wants to do that.
HomerSimpson ago
Off topic but we joined the exact same day!
9141704? ago
You don't sound like you're any fun at parties.
SubspaceDistortion ago
<Batman voice> This isn't a party.
Freedom of speech is serious business.
9142123? ago
The normal investor shills for an advertiser-friendly controlled environment.
The InfoWars investors shill for freedom of speech, gun rights, getting the truth out of our politicians and businesses, and occasionally trying to get people to buy their own combination of prepper goods, gun accessories, and vitamin supplements.
Also, InfoWars is more than willing to interview anyone and everyone, while the Corporate Media does pre-interviews and stacks their in-studio audiences and poll respondents, so there isn't a big risk of InfoWars or Breitbart trying to shill us into going too far in either political direction.
markrod420 ago
yeah i dont trust info wars. i dont trust alex jones. i believe they exist to make legitimate issues seem crazy. i dont think they are on our side at all. As far as im aware he basically came out against pizzagate for one thing. am i mistaken?
9142963? ago
He retracted a statement he made about Alefantis because they were preparing to bring a libel lawsuit against him, and knowing the money fielded by the globalists, the lawsuit might have been big enough to make Gawker's destruction seem like a cherry bomb compared to that nuke of a court case.
He still has had MANY people on over the last few months (both pre- and post-election) talking about the pedophile rings all throughout our country that are getting swept up thanks to Trump, he just had to publicly talk distance himself from their "Pizzagate" term because of the time he had spent pointing out their false flag location as a part of the larger conspiracy (even if it is, the evidence for that has been buried too deep for the general public to be willing to hear it).
When he has a chance to calmly explain himself and explain what he is really like or what he really thinks, all of his actions make sense. He learned all of this stuff 20+ years ago from his dad, and has been getting high-level intel for over a decade. He is someone who is very loyal to people until they screw him over, and then he'll curse them out with every breath in his body. He is very protective of his family, particularly his children, and doesn't want any harm to come to them, but if someone brings a fight, he isn't afraid to punch back.
In a lot of ways, he is very much like a true American cowboy stereotype, with the main differences being "he is a bit bigger build than the traditional cowboy image {unsure how much is fat vs muscle}" and "he is getting access to hints of information from the highest levels of government around the world".
markrod420 ago
i want to believe that he is on our side. but the issues ive seen him take on and the way he approaches things i cant help but feel like he starts out legitimate and begins to make valid points and then he eventally goes off the rails and begins to make the entire issue look like crazy people talk. So far i just dont trust him and ive been watching things from him for like 7 years now.
Vladimara ago
I too, would like the humble water filter merchant to support my favorite website of all time.
9139070? ago
Well they can still try
markrod420 ago
well then it will be "either we lose infowars or we start censorship" and so begins the process.
9139581? ago
then we lose infowars ?
markrod420 ago
Yeah as in "either voat loses the funding from info wars and shuts down or we begin censorship" and it's much harder to stop once you start taking the money than it is to never take it. if they accept the beginning of a loss of integrity then it is very likely they will eventually fall to it.
9144542? ago
Well then I guess it would mean infowars isn't pro free speech then
go1dfish ago
Breitbart might be another option, could use Voat to power the comment section instead of Disqus with a little bit of dev effort.
9139863? ago
Breitbart might not be as interested in ties with Voat as InfoWars, but it is still worth a shot. If we can get enough sponsors from the big media outlets in the New Right, then we can save Voat's finances while also making Voat become more popular.
HeavyBrain ago
Guess thats the only way to go on the long run.
Eventually shit will start to go South ans Voat will start censor for the sponsor but such is faith of all free internt communities.
9139051? ago
That would be a fucking stretch to implement, forget 'bout it
On the flip side they might be interested in getting free ad space on voat
That said, if every1 clicked on the fucking ads featured on this site everyday, and voat gets paid by click, we could raise some money
granted, not much, it's not as if we were millions here, more like thousands
The_Duke_of_Dabs ago
You can leave the 'a' in there. It's a soft pronunciation of the entirety of the 3 words, fuh (soft and quick) GET (This is where you bounce up in the whole of the phrase) aboutit (said like it's one word itself and trailing). fuhGETaboutit